I fell in love with BOB after needing to find a fun social circle in Chicago. Joined as a free agent, a bit nervously, but they placed me in an awesome team if fun social people. They also keep you updated on all schedule info and drink specials and all so I knew exactly what to expect going in! Bowling was fun, and meeting a whole ton of awesome people (teammates and opponents!) each week was even funner. They also do trivia during bowling often which is always a great icebreaker as you play with your opponent against all the other teams. Definitely looking toward being able to join again, most likely recreating a team with everyone I met lady time. 100% recommend! read more

Better Off Bowling - Usual night bowling with the league - Social Clubs Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Joining this league was a great way to meet people when I first moved to Chicago! It's low pressure and people are there to be social, so no judgement if you're not good. There are drink specials, trivia while you bowl (with prizes!) and prizes at the end of the season for the top 3 teams. Hanging at the after bar (Lizzie McNeills) is great too! They give a discount to league members and they have an awesome outdoor space on the river when the weather is nice. I highly recommend this league! read more

This past session was my first time bowling, and I absolutely LOVED it! It was a blast getting to know new people and to get my weekly exercise in. I'll definitely be bowling in the winter session! read more

My 5 teammates and I were at first excited for bowling thinking we'd get to socialize, meet new people and just have a good time on Tuesdays for 6 weeks. Turns out: - The assigned lanes kept changing from what was on the site to 5 minutes before your starting time. - The lanes at Lucky Strike were more dysfunctional than any bowling lane I've been at. - You are allowed only 1.5 hours (1-3 games is what they say). That's insane! With 6 people (you HAVE to have a minimum of 6 on your team), if you hurry, don't talk to one another and fingers crossed the lane doesn't break on you you can get MAYBE 2.5 games in. A bowling league should allow for 3 full games for every team/player. The scoring/ranking doesn't make sense if nobody bowls all 3 games. You also don't have an opportunity to socialize with the other team because you're hurrying trying to get your turns in. - The last two weeks, it was canceled most likely due to Lucky Strike (probably because they had the opportunity to make money on large parties and not BoB). We made the game up, finally. Got 1 free beer per person and pizzas for the lanes. - The pictures in the emails/site and anything else advertising the experience (drink specials, medals, etc) didn't exist. The only drink special we were given was ~$22 for a bucket of beers. No beer towers, sangria, etc like what they show on the advertisements. The bartenders/servers also kept giving us different prices on the buckets each week which was confusing and not BoB's fault. - The BoB rep was always helpful. They have potential but seemed disorganized this time around. I think it was a mix of the alley and the org. read more

When telling people about Better Off Bowling, I'm usually met by this question, "Wait, wait, wait, YOU'RE in a BOWLING LEAGUE?!???" But let me tell you, Better Off Bowling is probably the best social sport league around! I moved to Chicago a little while ago and man is it hard to make friends in a new city. Well, NOT if you're rolling with Better Off Bowling! This league is SO fun, SO social, and it's SO not important if you regularly bowl 200 (I usually just try to get around 100, ha ha). Most people in the league are in their 20s-30s, not phenomenal bowlers, and all just want to hang out and have fun with everyone. Because of BoB, I've met a ton of awesome new friends and actually feel like I belong in this city now. You bowl with your team for about 1.5 hours and then head over to the after-bowling lounge and play tons of awesome games like flip cup, cards against humanity, cranium, beer pong - whatever you want! Aaannddd, BoB arranges amazing drink specials with the bowling alley/after-bowling lounge (located in the alley) - buckets of Goose Island beers, mimosas, and bloody marys. Also, the organization of the league is just the greatest. You know your team's whole schedule (times, lane assignments, and opponents) for the season before the first day of bowling and you even get email reminders about your match. There is a rep, Evan, who is at the alley the entire time, so if you have questions, problems with your lane, or NFL game requests for the television projections above your lane - he handles it all. Evan is amazing! And the customer support is super responsive. They mainly communicate via email and usually respond to questions/issues immediately! (Quite unusual for general support email addresses!) Now, I know your thinking that this league must be expensive because of everything they offer. Guess again! This league is a steal! read more

I went with a free agent team, so I didn't know anyone. It was a good choice though because none of the people on this team knew each other, versus joining an established team of friends. The schedule ended up changing a few times, I think because of Lucky Strike and not BoB, but after that I missed a few weekends because of personal/family/work conflicts. But I still got enough bowling for the price! Lucky Strike also does drink specials- $3 mimosas/bloody marys and a good deal on buckets of 312 or Goose Island (I think). Also, it totally doesn't matter if you suck. read more

Hey D Rock here ... I have now bowled 3 seasons with BoB at Lucky Strike in Chicago and I'm ready to sign up for my 4th !!! The social aspect of this league is awesome and also the main reason why I keep coming back ... well that and the fact that I've won back to back championships so I have to defend my title !!! It is true that the bowling alley itself does kind of suck and needs a major refurbishing ... but the friends I have made both on my teams and other teams and even with the league reps is well worth it !!! My biggest complaint with the bowling is the hour and a half time limit which can make socializing hard at the alley ... but the after bar is great and you can't beat the 25% league discount !!! Wish that same discount was given at the alley !!! I was thrilled to see BoB is also going to offer a Monday night league over at Waveland for the upcoming season !!! So sign up and come find me ... I'm always ready to welcome new friends into my party crew !!! Dennis M. read more

A couple friends and I decided to join the league on a free agent team and we had a blast! Our team was super fun, because it was all like-minded people. Everyone was there to have a good time and meet other fun young folks so there wasn't a ton of pressure to be good at bowling, thank goodness! The actual bowling was really fun - more fun that what I remember it as a kid - and if we ever had any issues their rep was always on point to help us out! I especially liked that most teams hang out after bowling and play some games. I met a new a really great friend while playing beer pong and then ended the night playing drinking jenga with a bunch of other really fun people. The league is a really fun, low pressure way to meet friends, especially if you just moved to a new city like me. I can't wait to sign up for the next season, I might even make my own team! read more

While in Chicago for school I joined a few seasons of bowling with Better Off Bowling and had a super fun experience each time! The price is right, and even more so if you sign up with their early registration deal. For a pretty low fee you get 6 weeks of bowling (1-2 games a week generally) and shoe rental. I'm a pretty decent bowler, having grown up with grandparents that bowled regularly, and had a blast after being paired with other young fun people who ranged from great bowlers to hilariously bad bowlers. That's the thing though, it didn't matter! We all had a blast bowling, drinking, laughing and getting to know each other. I only had a few minor issues, like scoring mistakes and a short lane break down, but they were swiftly taken care of by the Better Off Bowling representative Evan. He was always more than willing to go the extra mile to make sure we were all enjoying our time on the lanes! Plus, while I LOVE bowling, the after bowling scene might be my favorite part of the league. They have great drink specials(during bowling too!) and it's just a great way to meet a lot of awesome people while playing games, sharing some drinks and having fun. I say sign up! Nothing to lose besides a small registration fee and LOTS to gain. read more

Had a great time with the Arizona State University Alumni team in our winter bowling league. It was very well organized, and fun to bowl every week during the winter. My only suggestion is Lucky Strike has very slow and unattentive service. It took a lot of work to get food and drink orders in. But that didn't take away from the league experience at all, and I will definitely participate next year! read more

I bowled with this organization at the Lucky Strike bowling alley last spring season. I had high expectations for this social group. I love bowling and bowling on a team with friends...how could this be bad? The problem is that Better Off Bowling does not have a physical representative in Chicago. This is an NYC based organization. There is no support, and no phone numbers to call when things do not work out. We had an issue with the start date, and then we had additional issues with times/lane assignments/teams we were playing. This was an all around disorganized mess. Update: The general manager contacted me to make amends. While I am not interested in bowling with this organization again, it was a nice gesture. read more